How to Get Xbox Game Pass for Free

Xbox Game Pass gives you access to a library of hundreds of titles, including new releases like Starfield and Lies of P, on Xbox consoles and PCs. The popular Microsoft subscription service starts at $10 a month, but you can get Game Pass for less -- even free -- if you know how.

The key is Microsoft Rewards, a loyalty program that rewards people who use Microsoft products such as Bing and Xbox. It only takes about 10 minutes a day to rack up enough points to get a free month of Xbox Game Pass, as well as other rewards for using Microsoft's services.

Here's how to get a free month of Xbox Game Pass.

Get set up first

1. Sign up for Microsoft Rewards: Microsoft Rewards is free to sign up for at the Rewards website using a Microsoft account. You'll need to visit the Rewards site daily to do Bing searches and different activities for points. 

2. Download the Bing and Microsoft Edge apps: Download the Bing and Edge apps for your device, either Android or iOS, and sign into your Microsoft account. The Bing app rewards points for daily check-ins, searches and other activities, while doing a few searches on the Edge app will also gain you points. 

3. Sign up for Microsoft Rewards on an Xbox (optional): This can be done on an Xbox One or Xbox Series console by downloading the Microsoft Rewards app via the Microsoft Store. There are daily, weekly and monthly activities available that can provide a lot of extra points just for playing video games. 

4. Download the Xbox app (optional): Like the Bing app, there are daily activities you can do on the Xbox app -- available on the App Store and Google Play -- that give you points once signed in with a Microsoft account.

How to start earning points

You need 12,000 points to auto-redeem one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This is the highest tier of the Game Pass subscription, offering access to a library of games on PC and Xbox and costs $17 a month. There are other Game Pass options available for fewer points. 

Here's a breakdown of what I do daily and how long everything takes. 

Daily set 

• Points gained: 50-150 + streak bonus.
• Monthly total: Approximately 3,000 points.
• Time required: About 2 minutes.
• Hardware used: Laptop, desktop, mobile.

The Daily Set is a group of several activities found on the Microsoft Rewards page, accessible on both laptops or desktops and on mobile if you request the desktop version of the page or via the Bing app. Most require a click on a link that takes you to a Bing search page for 5 to 10 points each. There's a daily quiz, usually about current events, that has three to 10 questions and can be worth 10 to 50 points. A daily poll is also available everyday for 10 points. 

The number of activities varies; some days have more than others. To get the streak bonus, which starts off at 45 points after a three-day streak and maxes out at 105 points, you'll need to complete the top three activities on the page. 

Bing browser searches

• Points gained: 150 points.
• Monthly total: Approximately 4,500 points.
• Time required: Less than a minute per day.
• Hardware used: Laptop, desktop, mobile.

Doing a search on Bing on a browser or via a desktop version of the page on a mobile browser will get you 5 points per search. How you want to handle doing these 30 search queries is up to you, but clicking random letters or numbers and doing a search for each will count toward the goal. 

You can verify the points you earned by checking the Microsoft Rewards and clicking on "Today's Points" to see how many are from Bing. 

Bing app searches and news

• Points gained: 130 points + streak bonus.
• Monthly total: Approximately 4,200 points.
• Time required: 3 minutes per day.
• Hardware used: Mobile.

Opening up the Bing app once you've signed in with your Microsoft Rewards account will display a Rewards widget. Click on that and it'll take you to the Reward home page where there's a daily check-in that starts at 5 points for the first two days, 10 points the next two days, 15 points the following two days and a random bonus on the seventh day that can go up to 50 points. 

Below the check-in is a "Search to Earn'' widget. Click on that and it'll take you to a page with your search history and suggested news stories. For a quick 100 points, click on 20 of these news stories. Another widget called "Read to Earn" gives you 3 points for each story you click on so all that's needed is to click on 10 stories. 

Microsoft Edge app searches

• Points gained: 20 points.
• Monthly total: Approximately 600 points.
• Time required: Less than 30 seconds.
• Hardware used: Mobile.

Microsoft's Edge browser has its own daily points, and it can be completed the quickest on the Edge app. Pull it up and on the home page do four searches to get the daily 20 points. 

Monthly total: 12,300 points.

Doing the above activities on a daily basis takes about five to seven minutes of your time. As long as you keep the streak going, you will have enough points for a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate -- it's 12,000 points via Bing Rewards. 

Get even more points with Xbox

If you want to pad your points or simply get the most points available, you'll need to do some work on your Xbox. 

Xbox app activities

• Points gained: 160 points + streak bonus.
• Monthly total: Approximately 5,200 points.
• Time required: 8 minutes per day.
• Hardware used: Mobile.

On the Xbox mobile app, there are three daily activities. The first is a daily check-in for 5 points on the first day and another 5 points each consecutive day ending on the fifth day at 25 points before it resets. For the second activity, the game Jewel can be played via the app. Complete two levels of the puzzle game to activate the points, which starts at 30 but if you're a Game Pass subscriber and have friends on Xbox, you'll gain another 30 points. 

The third activity requires a Windows computer. Play a game with your Xbox account, whether it's something off of PC Game Pass or even Solitaire on Windows. This can take about five minutes of playing to activate the 50 points for playing the game. If you're subscribed to Game Pass and have Xbox friends, you'll receive another 50 points, making for a total of 100. 

Xbox Game Pass quests 

• Points gained: 8-60 points + streak bonus.
• Monthly total: Approximately 2,000-3,500 points.
• Time required: Varies.
• Hardware used: Xbox One, Xbox Series X or S.

There's a Microsoft Rewards app on the Xbox that has multiple activities for points. The 100-point weekly activity requires looking at a trailer, doing Bing searches or just opening up the Rewards app. Any requirements for searches are already satisfied if you do the previously mentioned activities above. There are also an extra 5 points in daily activities to check out other games or other trailers. 

Also available on the Xbox are Game Pass quests, which are daily, weekly and monthly activities that vary on how many points are given. Every day, playing a game available on Game Pass will earn you 3 points while obtaining an achievement in a Game Pass game will reward you with 50 points. 

Weekly activities such as launching a certain game will give you 5 points or completing a task in a certain game will earn you 250 points. Then there are monthly activities that start at 10 points for playing four different Game Pass games and 500 points for completing 22 daily and 12 weekly activities. 

Monthly total for Xbox activities: Up to 8,700 points.

Doing all the activities above can earn you just over 20,000 points per month, and if you auto-redeem the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate via the Rewards app on the Xbox, it will cost you a reduced amount of 10,500 points, leaving you with more than 9,000 points. You can use these points to redeem items like an Amazon gift card or save it until you get enough to buy a game, controller or even another Xbox. 

If this all seems too much like work, check out our list of best Game Pass deals.